


Third Time's the Charm

by koalanoises



Category: Glee
Genre: Bittersweet, Character Death, F/M, Feels, death mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-06
Updated: 2017-01-06
Packaged: 2018-09-15 07:48:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9225503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/koalanoises/pseuds/koalanoises
Summary: Burt Hummel never planned on losing his wife. No one does. He didn't plan on losing his second one, either.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I couldn't sleep last night and ended up writing this. No idea where it came from or why. Maybe partly the fact that I've known literally over a dozen parents who've lost children? Either way, there's lots of talk of death, sorry.

Burt Hummel never planned on outliving his wife. Until, of course, it happened. When he lost Liz he was, obviously, devastated. He was also clueless. What do you tell your kid his mom is taken from him like that? That the happily ever after he’s always so excited to get to in his bedtime stories is sometimes cut short, for no rhyme or reason. How do you make that okay? How do you connect with a child who was always closer to his mother when she’s no longer around to give advice? He thought helping Kurt through that loss was the hardest thing he’d ever have to do. Oh, how strangely naïve he’d been.

He never planned on outliving his second wife, either. Because of course, he didn’t plan on having a second wife until just a short time before he did. He didn’t plan on trying to get her through the loss of her only child. No one does. And of course, he didn’t want to think about the possibility of losing Kurt, too, but when you bury your stepchild, it throws your biological child’s mortality into the forefront of your mind. He knew Carole thought about it too. Not that she wanted anything bad to happen to Kurt, but why did Burt get to keep his child when she didn’t? But he had died, would she have been able to trudge through? Luckily it never came to that. But the worry was always there, sharper, more present than before.

Carole had been a great partner to have as they wound and waltzed and slogged their way through being middle aged. He thought the same would be said for the golden years, if he made it to them at all, after all health problems. Carole had always been great about that. Looking out for him, holding his hand through treatments, making sure he ate well. He could just see them, continuing on their rocky road until he passed from some old-age ailment or another. Only that never happened. She never even made it to retirement age (though she’d have told you she never planned on retiring anyway). And again, he’d had to learn to live on his own. To come back to an empty house, without even Kurt there to take care of. But somehow, he managed, sure that this was what the rest of his life looked like.

He didn’t plan of getting married yet again. Who would? He’d already struck gold twice, what were the chances of it happening again? Not to mention that after what he’d been through, part of him was averse to even trying out of avoidance of pain. But then there was Tammi. She was no stranger to heartbreak herself, having lost her twenty-year-old daughter fifteen years earlier to a drunk driver, and her husband eight months after that to a stroke. She still had her career as a Congresswoman, champion of children’s rights, and two surviving kids, at least. Her daughter was an immigration lawyer in New York, and her son, a magician in Orlando who occasionally moonlighted as a photographer.

“Hey, he’s happy! That’s all I want for him!” She told him. At first, he wasn’t sure if she secretly disapproved, but as he got to know her, he learned that her defensiveness was due to other people assuming her son was a disappointment, not to him actually being one. That was something that drew him towards her. It was refreshing to meet someone in Washington who truly loved and supported her kids unconditionally. So many just insisted that their children do whatever would bring the most prestige to the family, whether it was studying at Yale Law, marrying against their orientation, or even joining the military because they had to show they were willing to send their own kids to fight in the war they’d voted for. After Burt saw Senator Price stick to his guns about image, even when it meant disowning his daughter for being a lesbian, and losing his relationship with his son after the young man lost his legs to an IED, Tammi was an angel.

He took things a little slower this time, dating two years before proposing, and allowing a few months for Kurt and Tammi to plan the wedding. Kurt was busier this time around as he had his own husband and two daughters to take care of. Plus a job as Senior Editor of Teen Vogue (which Burt would never have predicted would become a force to be reckoned with on Capitol Hill, whether a politician was doing something morally questionable or just wearing a striped tie with a pinstriped suit). But at least he was much more practical this time around. And gave the bride more say.

It was a small ceremony held in the Blue Ridge Mountains, in a remote town in Tammi’s native Virginia, which was also about as geographically convenient as possible for all their families to make it. Not to mention that the view was gorgeous. So much so, that it even overruled Kurt’s fear of the South. Virginia wasn’t as conservative about LGBT people as it had been in the past, anyway.

If Burt was being honest, though, he was apprehensive once the big day arrived. “Dad, this is your third wedding, I’d think you’d know what you’re getting yourself into enough to forgo the fear of the unknown.”

“It’s not the unknown that scares me, kid.”

Kurt sighed, but nodded in understanding. “I know. You don’t wanna walk down that road again. But it’s worth it, isn’t it?” He added as an aside “Also, I’m nearly forty, you can quit calling me ‘kid.’”

“You’re damn right it’s worth it. And come on, will Elliott and Riley ever stop being kids in your eyes?”

Kurt didn’t respond verbally but he did give a look that said, ‘Okay, I guess I can see your point.’ He then clapped his dad’s shoulder and walked with him toward the altar. As he left his dad in position, he took him by the shoulders one last time. “You can do this, dad. And you’ll be so much happier that you did.”

“I know,” he said, smiling. It was starting to hit him that he really was about to be Tammi’s husband. He was going to truly share his life again. It was exciting. “Thanks, kid.” Kurt rolled his eyes, but walked away without another word.

As it turned out, he’d had nothing to fear. At least not as far losing Tammi went. Here he was at eighty-eight, older than he’d ever thought he’d be, and ready to let go. And there was Tammi, at his bedside, holding his hand. The partner he got for life. He truly had been blessed. 

Of course, losing so many important people had been hard, but everyone who lives long enough loses someone they ‘can’t live without.’ Life had taught him that. Of course there were other bumps that didn’t involve death. Illness, aching bones, failing to prevent their colleagues from rolling back the hands of time and taking away people’s rights. But in the end, what mattered more were the good times. The people he got to love, no matter how long or short a time he got with them. The grandkids and step-grandkids. The hugs and kisses more than the shovels and dirt. The triumphs more than the defeats. Yes, Burt Hummel was ready to say goodbye, and for once, not have to be the one to shoulder the pain. Third time’s the charm.


End file.
